Instant Boner Fuel: Arrested Development Movie Actually Happening?!

Since the best show on TV went off the air, fans have been hoping and praying for some kind of follow up: getting picked up by Showtime or HBO, a feature length movie, anything at all. Well, this just in on Rotten Tomatoes:

"E! Online has helped break the news, obtaining confirmation from Jason Bateman that the show's producers, Mitch Hurwitz and Ron Howard, "have put the wheels in motion" for an Arrested Development feature film. Just like everything else these days, the project's start date is dependent on a strike resolution, but Bateman's words are encouraging:"I can confirm that a round of sniffing has started. Any talk is targeting a poststrike situation, of course. I think, as always, that it's a question of whether the people with the money are willing to give our leader, Mitch Hurwitz, what he deserves for his participation. And I can speak for the cast when I say our fingers are crossed."E! also reports that Bateman's fellow Development star, Jeffrey Tambor, was recently asked about his willingness to participate in a feature film adaptation; although you'll need to click on the link below to hear his full-length response, we can tell you it was enthusiastically affirmative."

HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT. Please let this happen, and sweet merciful crap you fucks end this goddamn strike right now, says I.

And just because it's the perfect excuse to do so, here's some Tobias.

Thursday TV Beej: Mr. Show

Mr. Show came around in 1995 seemingly out of nowhere and turned the sketch show upside down. Insanely intricate and well put together, the show flows seamlessly back and forth between filmed skits and bits performed live in front of an audience. Bob Odenkirk and David Cross are both incredible on the show, which was at once offbeat, weird, dark and always hilarious. Cross has obviously gone on to more fame since the show has gone off the air (though I find his stand-up to be a little preachy and annoying) and might be most notable as Doctor Tobias Funke on Arrested Development... and aside from that role, Mr. Show is easily the greatest thing he's done.

There are only four seasons of the show, and I think probably because it must be incredibly hard to keep up the complex way it was put together while keeping it consistently funny for the duration. I was also lucky enough to catch them live in 2002 when they did the Mr. Show: Hooray for America! tour, and it did not disappoint. (that short review means that while I remember laughing, I don't even remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, let alone any details from a performance over five years ago)

In honor of this Thursday's Beej, here are some of my favorite Mr. Show sketches:

The Audition


Phone Sex


Intervention


Shoe Store

TV Beej: Undeclared

I recently got the entire series of Undeclared on DVD, and I have to say, it is one of the best comedies in a long while. I watched it when it aired, but had forgotten how smart and funny the show truly was.

It was Judd Apatow's next project after the equally great Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared was more a straight up comedy than a drama, and each episode is only a half hour. Like Freaks however, it was also cancelled after less than 20 episodes. I can't help but think part of the reason for its failure was timing (its original air date was pushed back because of 9/11) and really shitty marketing by Fox. I used to see the commercials for this show and think it would be the dumbest show ever, having no idea it was actually smart and well written and hilarious. It is set in a college freshman dorm, and does a pretty decent job of detailing a lot of the shit 18 year olds go through in a weird time. It also has most of the usual cast of Apatow kids along for the ride - Seth Rogen, Jason Siegel, Jay Baruchel, Samm Levine, Martin Starr, etc.

This is a show I think that ranks in at least the top five funniest "sit-coms" of the last ten years or so, though right now the only show that I can think of that I'd rather watch is Arrested Development. So here's to you, Undeclared.